Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

29 reviews

ka_cam's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Beautifully written, moving, frustrating, and chaotic - I enjoyed the dream sequences and getting into Cyrus’ head. You could tell the author is a poet with the artful use of language. The ending for me was a bit abrupt, but I couldn’t put it down. An excellent novel exploring death and relationships for our violent, meaningful and meaningless time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Islamophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

TW airplane crash/shot down

cultbyproxy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Dying. It feels like such a throwaway to just die for no reason. To waste your one good death.”

martyr! by kavek akbar felt like the perfect book to read as my heart ached for every person martyred in Palestine right now. through genocide, i leaned on art, on literature, to find some kind of meaning to the world’s cruelty. in reading this novel i found peace, and sadness, and happiness, and anger. and finally, i found mourning. for all those living, who are also all those dying (some simply faster than others). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Grief

leastrawberryfields's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Suicide, and War

raphynette's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, and Xenophobia

noura's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Homophobia and Xenophobia

autumnallune's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death and Homophobia

acorny's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and War

vanguardens's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What does it mean to be alive when you wish to be among the dead? That is Cyrus Shams’ central obsession. Martyr! takes you on a series of journeys of one man holding multiple histories in his body and mind. A scathing story of addiction, recovery and how “living life on life’s terms” does not gel well with post-post-modernist conceptions of justice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Death of parent

cleo_reads's review against another edition

challenging hopeful

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I have no idea how to rate this weird, queer lit fic book that got a lot of buzz. I wanted to like it a little more then I did but I'm not at all sorry that I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Islamophobia, and War

ehwhateverest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I think this book would have been a 4.75 if not for the end.

I think the kind of ambiguous nature of the ending contradicts so much of story. It is unsatisfying.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and War